Yeah for days off!!

This week at work went better than I had anticipated. I didn't have too much pain in my back, so that was good. We finally got our schedule from work and I have a stretch at the end of the month where I have five days off in a row. (The beauty of working 12 hours shifts) I told my mom that we are just going to have to go somewhere. Somewhere far enough away but close enough to drive to. I was thinking of St. Louis because I haven't really been there before. I've been through it, but never actually visited there. I have to do some research and see if there is actually enough stuff to do there. The only thing I know for sure is the arch.

My sisters are all moved into their trailers now, meaning that Jennifer and my kids are out of my house. My animals sure are happy. The cats could not come downstairs during the daytime and the dogs were always on edge. Everything is going well, they are just looking for washers/dryers because going somewhere to do the laundry is a drag. I'm glad that I have my Whirlpool Duets (and that they were on sale!).

We were in the car today with my grandparents, cousin Tara, cousin Mikey and his friend. My cousin Mikey is kinda weird. My whole family (including me) is a little weird, but he is weirder than most! He was asking us "how long would it take you to put someone out who was on fire?" (He always asks us silly questions like this and it drives us crazy!) Well, we found a way to make him crazy. We kept asking him questions about the situation telling him that we "needed more information" to accurately determine how long it would take us. We asked him questions like "which way is the wind blowing?"; "how close are you to the lake?" and "is there an accelerant involved?" We were laughing so hard because he was like "forget it!" From then on during that ride, everything he said, we would ask him "which way is the wind blowing?" or some other random question. Sometimes I was laughing so hard, I couldn't even talk! It was great! :)

I have to work the next weekend, but the weekend after that, I think that we are planning on going to Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. My grandma has been wanting to go there for awhile. I have been there before and it is nice. (I went for a nursing seminar on poisonous mushrooms-what I learned: buy your mushrooms in the store, don't go find your own!!) Right now is a great time to go because they have their "Butterflies are Blooming" exhibit. So, hopefully, we'll get to be able to see that.

We also found out at work this week that we are going to have to start wearing uniforms...well, they are telling us we have to wear a specific color. We have always worn scrubs, but had the liberty of picking what we wanted. Now, nurses have to wear carribean blue. That is the same color that we wore as RNs when I worked at another hospital. When our director was telling us, I happened to be wearing that scrub set and she said "it's kinda like what Tammi is wearing." I told them that that WAS the color I was wearing. I'm kinda disappointed that they didn't pick another color. I'm kinda bored with that one...but the good news is I have a few scrub sets already. We have 10 months to get them, so I'm thinking that at the beginning of the new year, we'll have to be wearing them. So much for variety! (That's the color at the right)

We are also moving to the new addition in a week. They built it to look similar to some luxury hotels. I think the rooms are gorgeous, but we're going to have a hard time getting some patients to leave and we are dreading that. (We have a hard enough time in our old, dilapidated rooms!) I think that move is going to be chaotic! I'm glad that I don't work on days. I think that most of the work should be done by the time I get there. They have to move everything off of our floor, and all the patients. Which means, they will have to have nurses in the new addition and also nurses in the old floor. I'm not sure how they're going to do it or how I'm going to like it yet, but we'll see. I'm sure it will take a few months to get used to everything again, but it should go fine. At least everyone else will be as lost as I am. :) There are four nursing stations on the floor, but they all look the same, so that will be interesting!